The audience were moved to the edge of their seats in
excitement, as the Russian folk dance ensemble - Sibirskye
Uzory (Siberian Patterns) performed here in
Thiruvananthapuram in late October. They presented almost
fourteen different kinds of Russian folk as well as
classic dance items in a short span of 75 minutes. A well
rehearsed and elegantly executed experience, the dance
ensemble was originally choreographed by the founder
director Irina Ovechkina and fulfilled in cooperation with
the master-tutor Vsevolod Shkarovskiy.

The team opened the presentation with ‘Siberian Festive’
dance, an item which fetched them titles in international
dance competitions. ‘Youth Dancing’ and ‘Pereplyas,’ two
other group choreography pieces followed, which shared a
similar style exhibiting the festivity and joyfulness.
These were professionally developed folk dance pieces in
which they largely focused on choreography, coordination
and arrangement. It was indeed a display of their profound
acrobatic skills as well. They also made good use of the
available stage props. The Hungarian dance ‘Czardas’ and
Russian folk ‘Holiday in Cossack village’ were the other
group items which were included in the presentation. In
all these folk stylized pieces, the performers succeeded
to keep the audience thrilled. The boys flew and jumped
from one end to the other and the girls twirled and
revolved all around the stage. The visual symphony that
they created on stage in tune with the instrumental folk
scores was beyond words to explain. Vsevolod Shkarovskiy
along with senior member Ekaterina Ovechkina was seen in
key positions leading the team in all these group
ensembles.

Solo Pieces

Chechen dance

Pereplyas

Roundelay - About Russia

Siberian festive dance

It was not just about fast movements and acrobatics alone.
There were some group items, such as ‘Roundelay about
Russia’ in which the dancers took tiny controlled steps
giving an impression that they were rather floating on
stage. Some of them were labeled classics and some others
were contemporary. The Chechen dance ‘Women's Lyrical
Dance’ was yet another folk piece set to a slow tempo, in
which the girls were seen carrying long-necked jars. There
were also solo items in between and they too were often
slow paced. ‘Russian Souvenir’, ‘Without You’, ‘Giselle’
were some of the classical solo pieces and folk solo
segment had ‘Caucasian dance’ by Ekaterina Ovechkina. A
few of them had lyrics, but as the presentation lacked
announcements or narrations, the audience found it hard to
follow these items. It would have been better if some
information was provided, at least for the solo classical
pieces. The mediocre stage arrangement and poor lighting
also had an unfavorable effect on the visual richness the
dancers were trying to create on stage.

The quality in the presentation underlined that the
teenaged performers must have undergone enormous amount of
training and practice. Many of the dancers joined the
ensemble at an age of 3 and their years of dedicated hard
work definitely contributed to the success of the show.
The program was organized by Russian Cultural Centre,
Thiruvananthapuram, in association with Bharat Bhavan,
Dept. of Culture, Govt. of Kerala. Apart from
Thiruvananthapuram, the team has also performed in Delhi,
Mumbai, Pune and Kudankulam in their month long tour in
India.

Hareesh N Nampoothiri is a visual design consultant by
profession and a lover of classical art forms. Being an
ardent follower of Kathakali, he conceptualized and
directed a documentary on Kathakali titled
'Thouryathrikam,' which introduces the nuances of
Kathakali to the common man. Writing and photography are
his other passions.